Blackjack, also known as “21” is popular and has been played in casinos for many years. The rules of the game of Blackjack are well known to those skilled in the art.
The rules, with a few exceptions, are fairly universal. Some alternate rules of the basic Blackjack game require the dealer to hit a soft 17 (a hand count according to the rules of Blackjack of 17 including an Ace which counts as one or eleven), limit the hand counts to which a player can double down to ten or eleven, and limit the number of times a hand can be split are but a few examples. These alternate or modified rules are well known as well.
Recently, Blackjack-like games such as SPANISH 21® described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,888 issued Apr. 1, 1997 to Lofink et al the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, have been created. Some of these games include the feature of an additional or side wager to fund and participate in a jackpot feature for the game based upon the player's hand. In these games the side wager is optional and is not mandatory.
As hereinafter used, the term Blackjack or Blackjack-like or Blackjack-style game refers not only to the basic Blackjack game with its variations but also the aforementioned and other games which are like Blackjack.
Other variations include that described in Le Vasseur U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,789 where a player can play a single hand against multiple dealer's hands and String U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,705 where a player can elect to wager upon whether the player or dealer will obtain a winning hand.
These Blackjack games are banked by the house (e.g. casino). This means that the player is playing against the dealer who represents the house. Wagers are paid to a player having a winning outcome by the dealer (the “house”) and losing wagers are collected by the dealer for the house. Further nearly all winning outcomes are paid at even money, i.e. 1:1, except for a Blackjack (an Ace with a ten value card) which typically pays 3:2.
In contrast to Blackjack, the game of Poker and its variations is a contest between the players with the highest ranking hand winning the pooled wagers (often referred to as the “pot”), less a levy or “rake” taken by the house dealer for hosting the game. Unlike Blackjack the game of Poker generates social interplay in the form of friendly or not so friendly rivalry, humor, banter and byplay between the players which contributes to the excitement of the game. Furthermore, Poker provides exciting features including providing, in some establishments, what are referred to as “bad beat” jackpots. These jackpots are funded as a levy on the Poker pot and are won by a player who loses but has a predetermined holding, i.e. four-of-a-kind. Since games such as Blackjack and Baccarat do not have player versus player competition, there has been no consideration of providing bad beat jackpots in those games.
Baccarat is a game akin to Blackjack in that the house collects and pays all wagers, i.e. the player is playing against the house, and the object of the game is to obtain a final hand having a value, as determined by the rules of the game, closest to a target value. In Blackjack, the target value is 21 whereas in Baccarat the values are determined modulo ten and the target value is 9.
The rules of play of conventional Baccarat are well known including the complicated and cumbersome rules governing when a third card is dealt to either the Banker or the Player hands. Suffice it to say, players play the game by wagering that either the surrogate Banker hand or Player hand will have a total, modulo ten, closer to nine than the opposing hand. Players may also wager that the Banker and Player hand will have an equal total (a tie). In that the third card draw rules provide a statistical advantage to the Banker hand, the house exacts a commission upon winning Banker hand wagers of typically five percent. No commission is exacted upon winning Player hand wagers. As stated above, the rules of Baccarat are well known in the art.
A drawback of conventional Baccarat is that the house must keep track of and assess commissions on winning, Banker hand, wagers. A further drawback is that the third card draw rules are complex and difficult for novice players to understand. The third card draw rules are strict leaving the players with no opportunity to use strategy or hunches to opt to obtain or not obtain a third card. Yet another drawback is that the players play to the surrogate Banker or Player hands and thus cannot rely on their own individual luck. Further, in conventional Baccarat the players have only one opportunity to receive a payoff, e.g. a winning wager on one of the Banker or Player hands or winning the tie bet. It would be advantageous to provide players with opportunities to receive a payoff even if they do not win the Banker-Player contest or the tie wager.
It is an object of the method of the present invention to inject the excitement associated with Poker into the game of Blackjack or Baccarat.
It is a further object of the method of the present invention to increase the revenue received by the casino for Blackjack or Baccarat.
It is further an object to provide the players with additional opportunities to receive a payoff while playing the game.
A Poker related game is as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,529 (the '529 patent) the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In this game the players make two wagers, one against the house and a pot wager to be resolved against the players. A predetermined number of cards are dealt, e.g. three cards to each player and two community cards. From the community and three player cards, each player forms a five card Poker hand. Wagers are resolved by comparing the rankings of player hands, inter se and to a predetermined pay schedule. A drawback of this game is that to fund jackpots or the hosting of the game, the casino may have to exact a levy on the aggregated pot wagers.
It is another object to provide a variation to the game of my prior patent which dispenses with the need for a levy.
There is also a casino poker game known as CARRIBEAN STUD® which is as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 issued Jun. 6, 1989 to Suttle et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. In this game a player makes an ante wager and five cards are dealt to each player and to the dealer, four of the five dealer's cards dealt face down. To continue play the player makes an additional wager and the dealer reveals his hand. If the dealer's hand does not qualify by having at least an Ace-King, the player wins even money on their ante wager and their second wager is returned. If the dealer does qualify, the dealer's hand is compared to the player's hand with the higher Poker ranked hand declared the winner. If the player's hand has one of a schedule of holdings, the player also receives a bonus payout.
In Breeding U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,081 issued Feb. 22, 1994, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, another Poker game known as LET IT RIDE® is described. In this game the player makes initially three separate wagers and three cards are dealt to the player and two community cards are dealt face down. Based upon the player's three cards, they may leave or withdraw one of their wagers. The dealer then reveals one of the community cards and the player again has the option of leaving or withdrawing another one of their wagers. The dealer then reveals the second face down card and resolves the player's hand against a predetermined schedule of winning outcomes.
In both LET IT RIDE® and CARRIBEAN STUD® games it has been known to provide for an optional jackpot wager which is paid to the player based upon a predetermined schedule of jackpot hands.
It is to be noted that insofar as Blackjack, Baccarat, the game according to the '529 patent and other games such as Pai Gow, Let It Ride®, Caribbean Stud® and the like, either the player competes against a dealer hand or there are dealt community or communal cards used by all players to form their hand.
Further in my prior application I disclose using a levy on the pot component of the games, which I have introduced, to fund the hosting of the game as well as jackpots.
It has also been known to provide systems for playing traditional table games in electronic formats. For example, it is known to provide for the play of Blackjack and Baccarat between a remote player and an Internet-based casino. Also, in Sines, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,069, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, there is disclosed a presentation unit which provides for the display of electronic representations of hands for a number of live players to play the game.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a game which dispenses with the need to exact a levy on the game and which still provides a mechanism for the casino to make a profit and fund jackpots.
It is a further object to provide a system by which the games of the present invention can be played through and by electronic instrumentalities.